


this is "goodnight" and not "goodbye".

by shipsthatcouldshowyouthestars



Series: Barnes-Foster-Houston Household [3]
Category: Black Friday - Team StarKid
Genre: Angst, F/M, RIP Jane, The day of the car crash + Tim's nightmare, i will forever be naming fics after camp songs, if you squint you can see becky
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-26
Updated: 2020-05-26
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:15:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,119
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24381142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shipsthatcouldshowyouthestars/pseuds/shipsthatcouldshowyouthestars
Summary: tim houston had a nightmare about his mother disappearing with him unable to stop it.title taken from a girl scout camp song.
Relationships: Tim Houston & Jane Perkins, Tim Houston & Tom Houston, Tom Houston/Jane Perkins
Series: Barnes-Foster-Houston Household [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1738948
Kudos: 14





	this is "goodnight" and not "goodbye".

**Author's Note:**

> TW: hi guys jane dies int his one

Tim sat bolt upright in bed. The logical part of his brain told him it was all a dream. His mother was still there. He thought so. She had to be. People don’t just disappear, especially not his Mommy. 

The scared little kid in him begged him to go check and make sure it hadn’t really happened. He was a big kid now, already eight years old, so bad dreams shouldn’t scare him, but for some reason, this one did. 

The scared little kid in him eventually won out. He slipped out of bed and grabbed his stuffed bear Steve as he went down the hallway to his parents’ room, opening the door and peeking in.

The sleeping form of Jane rolled over in bed and faced him. He quickly tried to close the door but she seemed to notice.

“Hi, Tim,” she whispered, so as not to wake her husband, sleeping beside her in the bed. “What’s wrong?” 

“Nothin’.” He mumbled, but he was gripping the teddy bear as tight as he could and his eyes never left his mother. She was there. Why was he still scared?

  
“C’mon.” Jane sat up slowly and held out her arms. “You know you can tell me anything. Anything at all.” He thought before climbing into bed with her and curling up in her arms.

“Bad dream.” He mumbled, “You disappeared in it. Forever.” He squeezed his eyes shut. “A car hit us.” He continued. He didn’t feel too good now that he thought about it. He could fake being sick to keep her home. She couldn’t leave that way and nothing would happen.

“Aww, honey,” Jane said, stroking his hair. “I’m right here, and it was just a bad dream. Nothing like that is going to happen.” 

“But what if it does?” He asked quietly. “I don’t feel good, Mommy, can I stay home?” He asked quietly. 

“Yes, honey, you can stay home,” Jane said. “Your father won’t mind.” 

“Can you stay too?” He asked, opening his eyes. “Please?”

“I gotta go to work, honey.” She whispered. Tim looked at her with puppy eyes, which had a 100% success rate when used against his dad, but even the puppy eyes didn’t sway Jane. “I know, but I have to.”

Tim sighed and scrunched the covers with his hands tightly. “I’m just scared you-you won’t come back,” he sniffled. Jane kissed the top of his head.

“I’ll always come back, I promise.” She said as the bed creaked next to her with Tom rolling over and waking up. He sat up in bed and saw Jane holding Tim.

“What’s wrong?” He asked groggily, rubbing his eyes and stretching. “Why’s he in our bed?”

“Bad dream,” Jane replied softly. “Go back to sleep.” She leaned over and kissed his forehead. “I got him.” Tom looked at the time.

“I gotta get ready for work, Jane.” He stretched again, leaning over and kissing her cheek before messing up Tim’s hair as a sign of affection. “You sure you’re okay, buddy?” 

Tim nodded slowly, looking up at his dad. “Yeah.” 

“Good.” Tom smiled softly and got up to get ready. “I’ll get the coffee made, J.” He said as he left the room. Then, it was just Tim and Jane.

“I didn’t mean to wake Dad up.” He whispered. “Sorry.”   
  


“It’s okay,” Jane reassured him, her soothing voice already making him tired again. “Are you sure you want to stay home today?” She gently pushed his hair away from his eyes.

“Yeah,” Tim said. “I’ll feel better later.” 

“Alright. Uh, I’ll talk to Dad, okay?” She stretched. “You wanna stay in here? I’m going to get coffee and talk to Dad.” She asked and Tim didn’t reply for a moment.

“Yeah,” Tim said. “I’ll stay in here.” 

Jane helped him back under the covers and she left the room. Tim snuggled beneath them and buried his head in the three pillows Jane had on her side of the bed. It was quiet this morning. The birds hadn’t started singing yet. It was peaceful and scary at the same time. 

Tom had decided to stay home with Tim, which wasn’t his original plan, but Jane couldn’t stay so Tim had Tom. Tom returned to their bedroom to find Tim half-awake. 

“I’m staying home with you buddy.” Tom sat down next to him. “Do you want to watch anything?” He had the TV remote in his hand. Tim liked to watch TV with Tom. Mostly kids shows since a lot of the adult shows made Dad have his flashbacks.

“Daddy,” Tim said, moving closer to Tom. “Mommy’s gonna come back to us, right?” 

“Of course, Tim.” He said. “Mommy always comes back.”

“I know,” Tim said. “I had a bad dream, that’s all.” 

“What happened to Mommy?” He asked, turning on Nickelodeon and letting Spongebob play. Tim picked at the blanket he’d wrapped himself up in.

“There was a car, and then it got really close to us, then Mommy just….disappeared into a black and white smoke and I couldn’t do anything and got scared. Then I woke up.” He mumbled. Tom just rubbed his back.

“It was all just a bad dream, buddy.”

“I know,” Tim said. “Mommy would never disappear on us like that.” 

“Yeah, Tim.” He nodded. “Let’s just watch Spongebob. I gotta finish something for work in the shed, but I’ll be back to check on you, okay?”

“Okay, Dad,” Tim said, letting his dad crawl out of the bed. “Love you.” 

“Love you too, kid.”

To say the least, Tim was terrified being at St. Damien’s pediatric ward since, indeed, someone hit their car when they were driving home from getting Wendy’s. Mommy had been whisked away. She had been covered with red, even though Daddy tried not to let Tim see. 

The nice nurse checked Tim over for any major injuries, but he only had a few small bruises and a little bump on his head. But she was worried because he wouldn’t stop crying. Eventually, his dad came to find him, checking over him again and again. Dad was upset too. He was also bumped and bruised like Tim was. 

“D-daddy,” Tim stammered, trying to form a sentence. “Mommy’s gonna come back to us, r-right? Like she promised when I had the bad dream?” 

“I…” Tom trailed off. He didn’t finish his sentence. Tim was terrified. 

“Daddy?” 

Tom couldn’t meet Tim’s eyes, and that just made him feel worse. He just curled up in Tom’s arms, even if it hurt to do it. Tom just held him tight. 

Jane didn’t ever come back. It was the first and only promise she made to Tim that she ever broke.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> thank u liv for supporting ym crying and coping thru tim houston and i love this so much  
> also congrats liv on grad! ily!!


End file.
